Cincinnati City Council: The 3 top issues it faces

Cincinnati city council members and Sgt. Dan Hils, President of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, toured Wednesday what they said is a 'deplorable' District 5 headquarters at 1012 Ludlow Avenue.
The Enquirer/Patrick Brennan

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Leaders of the Metro bus system, which is currently funded by a city of Cincinnati earnings tax, are mulling requesting a Hamilton County sales tax instead.(Photo: Enquirer file)Buy Photo

Here's what Cincinnati City Council members say are the city's top priorities:

Fixing the bus system

Before the election, nearly every politician agreed the region's bus system is in need serious help.

"We’re currently operating our bus system based on where people lived and work 40 and 50 years ago. Bus operating hours and routes need to be updated," new member Tamaya Dennard said. "Some of the updates require new funding. But some of the changes we need to make more immediately don’t require more money."

In February, Cranley floated a plan to add a half-cent county-wide sales tax. The Better Bus Coalition attempted, but failed, to get a 1-cent county sales tax on the November ballot. But taxes are always a hard sell.

“Metro must be fixed and is essential to helping people get to a job and rise out of poverty in our community," new member Jeff Pastor said. "We cannot simply tax our way out of the problem that is Metro."

$22 million budget shortfall

The city is projected to face a $22 million short in fiscal 2019, which starts July 1. City Manager Harry Black proposed raising property taxes in order to help with the shortfall, a move that would bring in about $4 million annually.

A shortfall was forecast in the last budget cycle as well, and Black made the same suggestion, which council rejected.

"We seem to be stuck on property taxes," Mann said. "It's a symbol for some of my colleagues."

Mann said the additional burden on homeowners would be minimal, about $48 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home. Not everyone agrees with Mann.

"I’m not a proponent of going to our property owners to finance every shortfall. We only have a 38% homeownership rate in the City of Cincinnati," Dennard said. "We cannot use our homeowners as ATM’s. Before we ask them for more money, we have to ask ourselves, is there somewhere else we can get the funds from?"

There will be a public meeting about the budget on Jan. 8 at 1 p.m. at City Hall.

District 5 police headquarters

The current District 5 police headquarters, built in the 1950s, will be shuttered in January. All the officers and personnel will be relocated.

Council previously approved a $10 million plan to retrofit a former permit center on Central Parkway in Clifton. But in a last-minute move, Charlie Winburn with the support of Cranley proposed building a new headquarters in College Hill using that initial $10 million plus an additional $7 million.

Winburn, Murray, Smitherman, Young and Kevin Flynn supported the plan, but Young was convinced to table the item after other members of council objected to a lack of community engagement with the rest of the neighborhoods in District 5.

Meanwhile, the $10 million is not being spent on the permit center site.